If life is what happens to our plans, then dance is what happens to our steps.
ideas sometimes when you wait they come to you.

Preparation for starting with BAPP

Friday 15 February 2013

How you are experienced -


Hi
Here are some thoughts sparked by Module One, first task. Module Twos and Module Threes please read this because these are not thoughts in terms of tips for passing Module One, they are ideas about the layers you can find in the work. Don’t think of a module ending and that’s it. The ideas introduced in each module has something to offer whatever stage you are at. Ideas are introduced in a module as tools ways of looking at things. These are tools we are hoping you will use on-goingly; throughout this course and into your work arena and beyond your time at Middlesex!!

So I am looking at some ideas introduced in Module One, but this should be relevent to everyone on the course.
The CV
We ask you to use your CV as a starting point for posting / thinking about introducing yourself and what your experiences is. Page 11 in the Module One handbook states.

You should take your current professional CV and rewrite as a profile improving on its quality and Upload this as your blog profile.’

Why are we asking you to do this: because we want you to start to see your Self in different contexts. To see yourself beyond how you were positioned in your prior learning environment and start to see yourself in terms of the different parts of YOUR life. Part of doing this is to start thinking about what you ‘have done’ which is what a CV narrates. See my previous blog posts on this.
Positioning of Self
(October 10th 2010)

(Re-thinking this might be really useful people starting Module Two to give your self a ‘what have I just done moment’ and to contextualise any feedback you have just got from the work you just handed in (your assessed work)).

So here is what is happening for me. I feel really uncomfortable that you could feel encouraged  to just post your ‘audition’ CV. I don’t like the details such as dress size, you  SHOULD NOT post your street address as most CVs have at the top. I think it is kind-a icky to have some of those details which are about costume fittings or ‘look’ (like brown eyes etc…) on your blog which is open access to anyone who finds it. But then you are not being asked to do this directly because how relevant is that kind of CV to this context. I want to encourage you to think about the message and appropriateness of the CV you post in the context of an open-access, learning blog.

Hopefully you will look at it and develop something new for this context. The ‘about me’ part of the Blog sort of serves as a CV area too. You could post about the process you took and use the actually CV you develop as your ‘About me’ content. The point is to question what it will be like for people coming across your blog. What experience will they have of you, since the blog might be the only experience they have of you. It is not just what you want to say because you know much more of the story behind the intentions you have as you make your blog. It is also about stepping ‘outside’ yourself to imagine how you are experienced. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF ETHICS.

A chunk of Ethics is introduced in Module Two so module Twos and Threes what do you think of the above in terms of how you are approaching ethics?

Although formally introduced in Module Two it is sooooooo important to note that everything we do, every decision we make has something to say within the realm of ethics. Because experience is transactional there is inter-play you are experienced as something… ethics is about looking at how you or what you create or do are experienced.

In this case you can ask yourself questions about why you chose the photo you chose to represent you on your blog. Does it actually look like you? Is it what you were told was a good headshot? Did you choose it because you like to think of yourself that way? What does it say about what you want to appear as? How you want to be experienced? How is it an ‘ethical’ representation of you??? what other things have you considered: are you put off posting on your blog because of your spelling and you don't want spelling mistakes to represent You? What things do you consider in other contexts (at auditions, at work...). do you think to think of yourself as a 'good' person!

You can ask similar questions about how you construct a CV for your blog. What pressures do you feel you have to conform to? Where is honesty in the representation of your Self? Is it possible to represent your Self ever? Is it more about learning to being what people want you to be in different parts of your life? 

Module Twos these questions are important to you because you are starting to take your ideas (questions) out beyond your own Reflective work (journals and blog posts) and looking at literature, peers and other professionals to see what they think – but at the same time you can be thinking about these questions of representation, transaction, how things are experienced through thinking about how much value you put in information from different people because of how they appear to you. How you experience them. How much you and what you put out alters what you receive / perceive.

Module threes this resonates with you because of course you are starting to be out in the field talking, interviewing reading and you can think about how much of You, you are gathering and how much of the ‘other person’ or ‘other’ idea it is possible for you to gather. How does the way to approach people change what you see or hear in them? I do not think you are looking for a neutral way to do this but instate to note down the impact you think you have on an encounter as being as important as the conversation / information you get from an encounter.

So what do you think? How has this post come across?? What do you think of thinking of ethics as ‘How you are experienced’?


Adesola




3 comments:

  1. Hey Adesola,

    Just picking up on what about you said about 'conforming to pressures about what to include in a CV'. Having just graduated, we spent along time creating our CV's and making sure the correct information was on them etc... However we weren't really given any say in what information we wanted on there or not, as the profession requires specific information about eye colour, dress size etc... I personally don't think its necessarily right to have all this information on display, but I did feel pressured to conform to what was needed and so put this information on my CV.
    When it came to writing my blog and uploading my CV, I thought about who could be reading it. I came to the conclusion that if casting directors, agents or anyone else like that read it, they would want that information on there, as they require it in any other situation, why not on here??

    I do agree with the 'not putting your address etc' on your CV,but it is hard to decide what to do about the other information, as these days people seem to require specifics more and more. Similar to the issues I talked about in 'the importance of presentation' maybe? xx

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  2. Hi Adesola,

    A thought-provoking blog, as always.

    I was particularly struck by your comment,
    'Is it more about learning to being what people
    want you to be in different parts of your
    life?'
    I struggled for a long time, and still do to some extent, about being different people in different situations depending on what I felt was required of me, to the point that I had no clear idea of who the 'real me' was.
    I seem to have been able, over time, to better align the professional me with the individual personality I have, however I am also still very aware that being able to adapt and be flexible in the way that I present myself allows me to 'fit' the moment or the situation.

    I've been reading a lot about Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the importance that is now being placed on developing EI skills, and your blog really sings out to me on this topic.
    It is something I am considering looking into more deeply as my possible area of inquiry - the development of emotional intelligence through dance education, which thereby allows for a better understanding of self and others and how to engage with life ( both professional and personal) in a happy and successful way.

    As you have said in this blog, the things discovered in module one (presenting oneself, networking, reflective practice, multiple intellligences, etc.) have all lead me to the position I am in today. But that is not the end of the chapter... It is not just about gaining new knowledge (IQ) but by adopting and integrating this learning into thought patterns/ processes that engage with existing practice and create new ideas, develop better understanding of our 'self' and of our place in the world around us, and forge better relationships with the people we come into contact with.

    I am so inspired by how far I feel I've come already, both on a personal and a professional level, that I can't wait to see where this next term will take me...

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  3. Hi Adesola,

    I'm thinking about starting task 1a and I had no idea what I was supposed to be showing by uploading my CV. This post has really made me think. There are so many pressures, in every line of work I can think of, to represent a side of ones self through your CV, that yes I think we lose honesty. So interesting to think, ethically, is everything we put in our 'audition' CV ok? The personal information (measurements etc.) we put in our CV as dancers has never sat well with me, but, I do it nonetheless because I feel I might miss that crucial chance at a job if the casting director doesn't have that info at his disposal. I don't know whether this is besides the point of the task but, I wonder whether I am not completely honest to my self and my principles in the message I convey with tools like my CV. Maybe I have just learnt to conform to my projection of what an employer wants.

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